Card Sharks Timeline (Bob Eubanks version)
This page lists events that occurred during the CBS series from its debut in 1986 until it's demise in 1989. 1986 Winter January: *January 6: Series debuts on CBS, replacing Press Your Luck in the 10:30 a.m. time slot. **No X indicators to show who won a game were prevalent. **Models Lacey Pemberton and Suzanna Williams wore the same uniform until October 24, 1986. **Money Cards rules allowed a player to change three cards anywhere on the board - this would only last one month. **When a contestant busts on the Money Cards, the on-screen display reads "$0" *January ##: Perhaps the shortest Money Cards in the CBS run, a contestant busts twice and ends the Money Cards after only three card reveals. *January 20-24: The show gives away over $90,000 in cash this week. This may have prompted a rule change in the Money Cards for budget reasons. February: *February 3: a visually-impaired contestant named Susan starts her run on the show. **As of February 3, $0 Money Cards wins now display as "BUST" instead of "$0" as of this week. **As of February 3, X indicators for game wins first appear this week. **As of February 3, contestants can only change one card per line in the Money Cards. *On February 7, a contestant bets all of her money higher than a queen in the Money Cards and wins. March: *As of March 3, the opening theme is updated, and used for the remainder of the series. *On March 24: Faith becomes the biggest Money Cards winner in all incarnations of the show, winning $29,000 in a single playing of the Money Cards, overshadowing Norma Brown's maximum $28,800 win in 1978. Spring *On May #, Mark Goodson makes a cameo appearance, and recites a poem. *As of May ##, until sometime in October, still images of Money Cards winners started being shown prior to commercial break after Money Cards. Summer *July 7-11 was the first Young People's Week of the series.. *July 14 was the first show with the audience poll questions involving ten individuals. *August 25-29 was Young People's Week II. *On August 25 and 26, future Baywatch actress Kelly Packard makes her appearance. *As of August 25, audience polling groups now share a common occupation or belong in a certain group of people. *On September 2, the lowest non-$0 win at this point, Gayla wins only $100 on the Money Cards. *As of September ##, the contestant's face in the Money Cards is shown in a diamond instead of in a circle. *As of September ##, the money cards scoreboard uses a dark red color scheme instead of a deep orange color scheme. Fall *From October 13, until sometime later in 1987: members of the audience polling group start wearing nametags, which have a yellow background with black letters. *On October ##: Bruce, the only contestant in a wheelchair, starts his run. *On October 27, Version 1.0 of the car game, with seven numbered cards and two jokers in the Money Cards deck, debuts. *Educated guess questions also debut today, though until December 12, answers could be no more than 99. *Starting on October 27, the models start wearing different outfits instead of the traditional uniforms. *On October 29: Jeff is the first contestant in the CBS series to win a car. *On November 4, a contestant named Bob Eubanks makes his appearance. The host's reaction is priceless! *From December 1-5: Young People's Week III airs, and kids play the bonus game for a trip to Hawaii instead of a car. *From December 12-18: Educated guess questions now allow for answers greater than 99 as of this week, and for this week only, contestants write their guess on a card, similar to panelists writing their responses on Match Game *From December 19-25, Christmas decorations are prevalent. *As of December 19, on the educated guess questions, a contestant's numeric guess appears in chyron text appearing digit after digit on your screen. *As of December 19, the infamous losing horns are now heard on the car game if the car is not won. *December 28, 1986-January 2, 1987: Young People's Week IV starts and continues into the beginning of 1987. 1987 Winter *January 19-23: Young People's Week V airs. *On January 21, a bizarre educated guess question about the models' combined weight is asked, and the models dare Bob to be weighed! *January 29 was the start of a car game losing streak, which lasts for 25 playings for a car. *From February 2-13, educated guess answer reveals appear to have a flipping animation effect, similar to the passwords appearing on the screen on Super Password. *February 16-20: Young People's Week VI airs. *As of February 16, educated guess reveals revert back to to the original fornat, first used on December 19, 1986. *February 17-18 is future child actress Kellie Martin's run on the show. *As of February 23, Lacey and Suzanna start doing model poses in the car game, similar to what Barker's Beauties do on The Price is Right.. This would only be prevalent if a car was being offered. *On March 4, an educated guess question involved an audio clip. *On March 10, after a 25-game losing streak, a car is finally won. Spring *April 13 was the first show with no Money Cards and no car game being played, due to a match consuming the entire episode. *May 4 was perhaps the only time an educated guess question was used as a show's first question. Summer The only time a contestant wins three cars. During the opening, the green background that the computer-animated cards are dealt out on is now transparent, and shows the week's featured car. The opening spiel is modified to "You can win this beautiful car (or sporty truck/jeep) on the turn of a card, on Card Sharks! And if you play your cards right, you could win $32,000!" Fall *Sometime by the fall, educated guess answers when revealed on your screen have a pastel-green border. *Sometime in by the fall, the font on the educated guess reveal is also updated to a Clarendon-style font. *'By December 14,a $32,000 chyron graphic appears during the opening, and has a black shadow effect, and blinks a few times. *Also, by December 14, a flashing marquee behind the week's featured car appears. *December 21-31: Two consecutive weeks of Young People's Weeks, with the bonus game played for a holiday gift package, consisting of a trip to Hawaii, a bumper pool table, a computer, a pair of bicycles, a VCR, and a sailboat *December 28-31: Bob Goen makes a series of cameo appearances to plug the game show disaster Blackout, which debuts a week later. 1988 Winter *Sometime in January, the $32,000 chyron graphic during the intro now has a red shadow effect. *Sometime in January, was the second time a contestant has $16,000 on the Big Bet row, and nearly wins the maximum $32,000 cash in the Money Cards. *As of February 29: tiebreaker rules are changed to a one-question sudden death game. Spring *March 28-April 1: Young People's Week. WIN! cards from Christmas 1987 are still used, though the bonus prize reverts back to just a trip to Hawaii. *On March 29, Bob announces to the world that Lacey Pemberton is pregnant. *From June 6-10: Ray Combs, the host of the new version of Family Feud makes a series of cameo appearances to plus Family Feud, which premiered on CBS four weeks later. Summer *Starting July 4: In an attempt to reboot ratings, the car game was updated to involve a question involving the week's audience polling group, and contestants were required to register his/her answer on the range board (a scale with numbers 0 to 10, with a blue diamond to move the marker on his/her guess). This format was based on the "Judge the Jury" segment on the 1979 game show Mindreaders. *From July 11-15: The seven numbered cards make their final appearances this week, since this week of episodes was taped before the range board car game debut episode was taped. *July ## was the first time the car was won on the range board car game. *August # was Lacey's last show before her maternity leave. *From August # until December 9, guest models start appearing while Lacey is on maternity leave. Fall *November 21-23: First Young People's Week with the range board bonus game rules modified so that young contestants could win the trip to Hawaii if exactly right or off by one ($500 bonus is eliminated for this week only) *December 9 was the last episode with guest models filling in for Lacey. *On December 12, Lacey returns from her maternity leave. *From December 19-23: Christmas decorations prevalent this week. 1989 *March ##: Since the show is confirmed by this point to be cancelled, the final Young People's Week winner was brought back to play for a trip to Hawaii, despite not being Young People's Week. *March 31: Final episode aired on CBS. During the final playing of the car game, the $500 bonus was eliminated, and the contestant would win the car if exactly right, or off by one. Category:Card Sharks